Page Description

The following page is a blank template with a header that contains a quicklinks jump menu and the search UHD function. Page sections are identified with headers. The footer contains all required links, contact and emergency information.

1. Click on the Apple Icon in the top left hand corner of your screen.
2. Select About this Mac.3. You can view the Basic System Information here.
4. Click the More Info button to generate a full report on your Mac.

On this page below the title "RealPlayer for Windows" is a button (change operating system), instruct your students to click on the button and select the RealPlayer for their operating system.

UHD supports the Real Audio/Video (.ra and .rm) format for streaming audio and video over the Internet. We use RealMedia’s Helix server product with a cache system to stream audio and video. RealNetworks server software is used to stream multimedia presentations to a RealPlayer.

What is Real Media?

Real Media is a file format designed for compressed audio and video on the internet. It is a proprietary format designed and owned by Real Networks, which is a company completely dedicated to streaming media, and Real Media is one of the very first formats for doing streaming media on the internet.

What are Real Media files?

Real Media files are only playable by the Real Player software. Unlike Windows Media and Quicktime video files, they are not easily edited and cannot be transcoded or converted into other formats.

Real Media files produced by Real Producer do not need any special processing to be used on the web or by a Real Helix streaming server.

Real Media files can be encoded with what is known as SureStream, so that one file can be used to serve media to users on many different types of bandwidth - from modems to broadband.

Player Standards

An updated player from RealMedia is required to view UHD streaming material. One can obtain Real Player from RealMedia at their website, which is located at http://www.real.com/freeplayer/?rppr=rnwk. If you have Real Player on your computer go to the update section and download the latest version. RealMedia players are available on most operating systems. The current Real Player 15 will work on the Windows OPerating System, OS 10.x and Unix operating systems. See "Step 2: Learn the RealPlayer 15 Interface" for an introduction to the RealPlayer interface.

Player Problems

Windows displayed Invalid Page Faults, or RealPlayer crashed or showed distorted video such as: an empty magenta or black square; a snowy, static-filled picture that moves; a video with a green tint that is distorted; video with stripes in all or part of the screen; or video that is stretched vertically or horizontally in one direction, making the picture look long and flat, or tall and thin.

These problems occur when your computer is using a video card that does not understand the instructions that RealPlayer is giving to it. You may be able to resolve this problem with one of the following solutions. (You don't have to do all of these: if the first one doesn't work, try the next, and so on):

Solution 1: Set your video display to 16-bit color.

RealPlayer requires 16-bit (65,000-color) color depth. If the video card is not capable of this, you will receive an error message when you start RealPlayer that requests that you increase the video resolution.

Solution 2: Update your video card drivers.

Video cards use driver software to send information from the computer to the video card. Drivers that are out-of-date, damaged, or not DirectX-compatible can cause video problems. Update your video card drivers, and visit the video card manufacturer's Web site to verify that you are using the latest DirectX-certified drivers.

Solution 3: Install the latest version of DirectX.

DirectX is another set of drivers that to send information from the computer to your video card. RealPlayer uses the DirectDraw features of DirectX to optimize the video presentation. DirectX is a component of the Windows Operating System. If the DirectX components are out-of-date or damaged, RealPlayer may crash or display the video incorrectly. Install the latest version of DirectX from http://www.microsoft.com/directx.

Windows 98SE, ME, 2000:
1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click the System icon.
3. On the Performance tab, click the Graphics button.
4. Move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the Basic or None level.
5. Click OK.

If the problem no longer occurs after changing this setting, leave your system on this setting. If it does not resolve the problem, set it back to where it was. The Basic or None setting is more compatible than Full in most cases, but setting it at Basic or None disables some advanced features of the video card.

Solution 5: Disable optimized video.

If you have tried the solutions above and are still having problems playing video, they may be caused by a video card that uses WinDraw drivers instead of DirectDraw drivers. Disabling optimized video in RealPlayer will improve compatibility for video cards that are not DirectDraw compatible.

To disable optimized video in RealPlayer:

1. On the Tools menu, click Preferences. The Preferences box opens.
2. In the Category pane, click Hardware.
3. In the Video Card Compatibility section, drag the slider to Most reliable.
4. Click OK.
5. Close RealPlayer and restart the computer.

Solution 6: Try the DivX or XviD codecs.

Some videos may need a codec to play properly. (Codec stands for compression/decompression. A codec is a program that compresses a file to save space, then decompresses it for viewing.) Click here for more info on the DivX and XviD codecs.

Connection Problems

RealPlayer 15 is designed to obtain the highest quality playback possible.

Note: These connection settings are standard for optimal playback for your Internet connection speed. If you are running a satellite connection, you will need to change your normal connection rate to 512 Kbps. This is due to the difference between your upload and download speed.

Connection

To set any other Internet connection:

1. Open RealPlayer and click the Tools menu, then Preferences. The Preferences box opens.
2. In the Category pane, click Connection.
3. Click the Test Connection button.
4. From the TurboPlay Connection Test window, click the Perform Test button.
5. When the connection test finishes, write down the results.
6. Click Next, then OK to close the Preferences box.
7. Under Bandwidth, change Normal to one setting less than what your available bandwidth tested at, unless you are on dial-up.
8. Under Network Time-out, Connection should say 20 seconds and Server should say 90 seconds.

Bandwidth

The best way to set your RealPlayer 15 bandwidth is to set its maximum bandwidth (connection speed) to the largest allowable setting. For example, if you have a 56K modem, you would set the bandwidth in RealPlayer to 56K. Your normal bandwidth setting should be set one level below it; if you have a 56K modem, you would set this to 33.6K.

Setting the bandwidth correctly is especially important when you play presentations that include a mix of streaming pictures, audio, video, and text at the same time.

To set the connection speed within the player:

1. In RealPlayer, click Tools and select Preferences.
2. In the Category pane, click Connection.
3. Under Bandwidth, set the Normal drop-down list to one level below the speed of your modem.
- If you are not sure of your connection speed, click the Test Connection button instead. This automatically sets your connection speed.
4. Make the Maximum drop-down list equal to your modem speed.
5. Click OK.

After you configure RealPlayer this way, it can manage streaming data so rebuffering can be avoided, and the clip can play smoothly and at the highest quality level possible.